Some relief

I hardly bother to look through my boxes of manuals anymore.  Instead, I go straight to the web and try to find them online.  So I did for the service manual for my Sony PS-X800 turntable.  Unfortunately the online copy I got from Vinyl Engine has critical bits cropped and possibly altogether missing.  I've had to locate the important VR106 myself.

Which I had done, just before thinking I had blown my Fluke meter.  Then I got the manual for my Fluke meter, and found out how to remove the fuses.  I removed the "easy" fuse today, which is officially done using a probe tip (they make it impossible to do with your finger nail).  The spring loading caused the fuse to shoot up a foot and land about a foot away.  Fortunately it didn't land inside the open guts of the Sony turntable, but instead on the soft couch.

I figured I'd test the fluke fuse using my other fluke meter, which is a slightly cheaper but almost contemporaneous D82.  I found the other meter in the main Scandia rack inside the laboratory, with it's battery removed (good idea for rarely used items--and why can't they make batteries that never leak anyway).  Fine, I had just removed another 9 volt battery from my RF field tester, so I used that.  But then I quickly discovered that the battery clip for the D82 had one broken connection.  I'd have to get the soldering iron out to fix it.

Oh what a tangled web.  But I figured out another method.  I used my radio shack battery tester, set to 9 volts, and put the fuse in-circuit so-to-speak.  Using this method I measured 9.4 volts either with or without the fuse.  So the fuse was actually good.

I put the fuse back in the 8060 (careful not to launch it again, as I almost did trying to push it all the way back in), and re-tested AC and DC voltage nulls (they both went to zero).  So I "fixed" the meter, most likely it had never been broken.

Back to the turntable I tested the voltage which is supposed to be 5 volts DC.  I measured 0.004 volts DC, possibly zero.  I measured about 2.5 volts AC.  I'm going to try the VR 106 adjustment later, but this isn't promising.  The turntable may require a power supply rebuild.

Meanwhile, the other issue, and now more pressing, is the cycling of my living room UPS.  If I had the alarm turned on, it would be ringing all the time because of the apparently dysfunctional battery.  I *could* swap in the battery from a 3rd unit I have, which has never been taken out of the factory box, inside Lyndhurst.  I went out to Lyndhurst and determined the location by determining all the places it wasn't.  Then I could see that at the bottom of a pile of banker's boxes in the corner, hidden behind all the other junk around it, is another box which clearly isn't a bankers box but is supporting all of them.  That HAS to be it.

Seeing as how it would take maybe 2 hours of work to get at the box, remove the unused (and rather old) battery from the unit, then put everything back as it was (actually, this might be 3 hours of work) I'm a little more inclined to simply buy a new battery.  I found an expensive (possibly better than new) battery online.  After an hour of searching I found only one vender, and not surprisingly the most expensive one, which listed a replacement set of batteries for my Belkin PureAV AVU1500 unit.  The Belkin instructions tell you not to disassemble the battery unit, but that will apparently have to be done to replace the actual batteries inside.

Chaos Mansion

Despite the title of this post, I actually got things cleaned up a bit over this birthday weekend, in addition to going to a performance of the San Antonio Symphony (wedged into the weekend on Friday because of my friend's working hours) and was treated to a birthday breakfast at Earl Able's (which featured "natural" steak, german chocolate cake, and was greatly enjoyed by all, much more than expected by me).

And I got the new Pioneer DVR LX70 dvd and hard drive video recorder set up and tested.  It works great!  Though it was clearly not sold to me by a dealer, or sealed in box, it does appear to have been unused.  And it is the rarest of the rare, a unit sold in Japan but not for use in Japan, according to markings on the box, as well as possibly being the best consumer dvd recorder ever sold.  It's not clear that the DVR LX70 was actually sold new in the US, and my unit wasn't.  I copied several recordings over from my Sony recorder (RDR-HX900), edited one of them, and burned two to new dvd's without any issues.  Hopefully I can now look forward to another 7 or more carefree years of hard drive viewing and dvd burning.  Unlike the Sony, the Pioneer lacks component video inputs.  That design choice may have been legally mandated, or to avoid the typical problems when a know-nothing user tries to run 1080i into this unit.  As a dvd recorder, it can of course only record standard definition 480i video (or possibly pal as well, since it is apparently a world-coded unit.  I will have to change my component video connections to s-video to be used with this unit.  I already had one s-video cable but I ordered a new one from Blue Jeans Cable.  I had just ordered and received a Lightning to S-Video adapter box but did not get around to hooking it up; I also have a much more expensive BlackMagic unit I should probably use instead.  I studied the loss when making dubs of the dubs on the Sony, and decided they were inconsequential, but there may be a slight difference in visual presentation, the Sony looking dark to the point of gloominess and the Pioneer possibly a tad too bright.  I adjusted the output settings on the Sony by turing off all the noise reduction features.  Those features might make for nicer display but generally mess up 2nd generation copies.  I turned up the color saturation for the Sony input, but only by one notch.  I was having a hard time, however, telling any difference.  Much more noticeable is the difference between my kitchen and bedroom TV's.  I'm really coming to appreciate the rich color of my CRT based Sony 34XBR960 in the kitchen compared with the flat but brighter LCD presentation in the bedroom.  I also played a couple of Japan-only DVD's which this unit can play (because it is a rare world code unit) and enjoyed the rich color.  I can also play those DVD's on any Denon player (because it's easy to switch Denon's into world code mode), but typically when I did that I ran them through the Sony video recorder which dulled the picture a bit.  Somehow playing through the Pioneer I discovered additional video chapters in these Japanese DVD's.

To make room for the Pioneer, I needed to clear out the old and currently unused Marantz 2130 tuner in the bottom slot of my kitchen rack.  That tuner has a foul smell when being operated because a previous  owner must have been a chain smoker.  I put it into the Gym, taking the place of a Pioneer 9500 MkII tuner requiring the latter to be moved to Lyndhurst.  Saturday was a great day for moving stuff to Lyndhurst and I also moved a bunch of other stuff that had been waiting inside during the recent cold rainy weather.  Most importantly, I moved out two boxes of LP records.  One of those boxes has a slight smell even after I discarded the only record box that had visible staining.  The stinky box was sealed up with tape to prevent it from smelling up Lyndhurst, but the double cardboard of the box itself will permit required moisture movement.

After moving out the Marantz, I used about 8 different cloths to clean to bottom rack space.  I used old formula 409 glass plus cleaner (the best ethanol cleaner I've ever come across, no longer available) to first clean and sort-of disinfect the space, then I used pledge.

By Saturday night, I had the kitchen and living rooms much cleaner than they had been during the week.  Late on Sunday night I took another stab at the Sony PS-X800 turntable I started investigating last week.  I downloaded a copy of the service manual from Vinyl Engine and determined which voltage I needed to check: the system control voltage at TP11.  I removed the platter and turned the turntable upside down on the couch.  I got out my fluke meter and measured 11V where I should have been measuring 5V.  OK, there's something that needs to be fixed.  But then I tried to see if there was some AC voltage on the test point, and I accidentally engaged the "current" mode of my Fluke 8060 meter.  On the next test, I burned out the meter fuse, so it no longer worked.  On Monday morning I ordered a replacement Fluke fuse, which cost $2 plus about $7 shipping.

So one old broken thing (the Sony dvd recorder) being replaced, another broken thing being fixed (the Sony turntable), and a 3rd thing broken in the process of testing (and hopefully eventually fixing) the second.

And if that weren't chaotic enough, just before going to bed on Sunday night I noticed a wind-like sound near the front door.  It was chilly on Sunday night but I didn't think it was blowing just then.  I noticed that the fan in my Belkin UPS used for the living room audio system was coming on and off.  In order to read the LCD screen, I had to move a speaker out of the way.  It was clear it wasn't overloading or anything, it was only showing 1.5 amps loading, so I went to bed.  On Monday morning I took another look at it, pressed the Test button, and it now shows that the battery needs to be replaced.  No online searches that I have done so far reveal a suitable replacement battery, and Belkin doesn't make UPS's any more or support this one.  I'll have to shut everything down, remove the battery, and take it down to Altex and see if I can get a suitable replacement based on the size, capacity, and voltage.

When you have enough stuff, old stuff is breaking just about as quickly as you can get new stuff to replace it.

  

Indoor Times

After my eye surgery on December 11, the rest of Decmber seems to have whizzed by in a blur.

Really.  I went to two great private parties, hosted one great party myself (little more than a week ago but it seems like a month ago), and had a nice movie date followed by a christmas light tour.  Beyond that there was work and indoor fiddling with electronics.  That last bit is what this post is about.

For at least 4 days I tinkered with my living room audio system, and got better sound with less boom.  I re-centered the bedroom audio system.  I fixed the dvd recording drive in the Sony RDR-HX900 dvd recorder that had been broken for two years.  (I had fixed the hard drive in that unit about 2 months earlier.)  That repair was a huge accomplishment--last weekend.  By the first weekend of the new year, after making two new DVD's, it had broken again and I have now purchased two replacement units (a Pioneer DVR-LX70…perhaps the best such unit of all time…and the Magnavox MDR537H--perhaps the best DVD recorder you can buy in the USA today).

I got my Dish Network service fixed.  They had told me (!) I was losing connectivity back in August and they would immediately come out and fix it.  But I was busy with other things and did not get back to them until late December when, after the healing of my second eye surgery, I could move around the stuff in the kitchen to make the Dish DVR box accessible (otherwise, it's behind lots of stuff).  They needed to replace my old 722 ViP box with a new 722k box.  The new box left out the OTA (over-the-air) broadcast tuner my previous box had in order to get the sub channels of the PBS station KLRN.  The installer knew nothing about this or anything (or so he pretended).  I did some research online and determined that I could get Dish to send me the needed OTA MT2 module.  I called technical support and once again they pretended to know nothing, until after about 30 minutes of argument they offered to send me the OTA module and waive the usual $50 charge (as they should have, since my previous box had it, as did the previous boxes before that which I paid for!).  The OTA module took more than 2 days it was supposed to take to arrive, I kept getting notices from UPS about rescheduling.  Finally, UPS told me it had been delivered, and I looked all around the house and saw nothing.  I tried to file a claim with UPS but UPS wouldn't let me do that until 24 hours.  The next evening my neighbor called, they had delivered it to him.  I told him to leave it by my front door, and the next day I installed it, and scanned in all the local channels.  It seems to work flawlessly on all local channels though I only designed the antenna to get KLRN.  The new OTA module has two tuners so you can record one program while watching another.  Now I've reset the programs I want to record (including one on a OTA sub channel) and all is back to normal.  I also figured out how to use all my old RF remotes (the installer was totally unhelpful in that regard, as expected) so I have a total of 3 working RF remotes (which I can use anywhere inside the house).  Afraid I wouldn't be able to use my old RF remotes I also ordered 3 brand new ones, which I haven't programmed yet.  All in all, my satellite service is back and better than ever.  The picture quality from the 722k seems incredibly better than the old 722Vip.  The HD channels (which is most of them) are really HD now.

I got two new Sony alarm clocks with auto-time-set feature, which works great.  One of them is now THE clock in the Queen's room.  It sits right next to the genuine Lucent desk phone (which is actually my old phone from work which I saved from recycling).

I finally put the brass feet on my Aragon amplifier in the living room, and it looks nicer, runs cooler, sounds better, and doesn't require a big wood board underneath it any more--which means I get about 9 inches more foot room.  I had ordered these Mapleshade brass feet more than 2 years ago.

Last Saturday (first in January) I moved the DVD rack in the kitchen out to Lyndhurst.  I was able to put most of the DVD's there into the new rack in the King's Room.  The rest I moved to Lyndhurst, also leaving just a tad more room in the rack.  This makes the working area in the kitchen about 25% larger and frees up two cabinets and a shelf that had been blocked by the DVD rack.  I reorganized the new video and network wires that had been in front of the cabinet so they are now attached to the wall and out of the way.  I still need to remove many of the wires near the floor which have become redundant.

Last Sunday I sorted LP records.  One box of records from the kings room is going to be moved to Lyndhurst.  I had noticed previously that some of them seemed to smell moldy.  I found one obviously moldy or ruined record set box, which has been trashed, but the individual records inside seemed fine and have been saved in the outgoing box.  I also filled another box from some of the records in the Queen's room, and some of the records in King.  Some of the records in the Queen's room were deemed to be part of the "inside collection" and moved to the record cabinet there.  However, to make room for them, I had to cull records already in the king's room.  So the second box going to Lyndhurst has some records that had been in Queen's, and some that had been in King's, but the King's cabinet now contains only records that are going to be kept inside.  Two additional boxes will be obtained to move out the remaining records in the Queen's room.

I started examining the Sony turntable (PSX-800, arguably their best ever) I took out-of-service in 2010 because it wasn't working and I thought I smelled smoke.  I detected no problems inside, and plugged it into power carefully, this time being sure there was no smoke.  Now that I've determined that it is safe, I could possibly fix the problem by adjusting the power regulator.  That's a project I'd put off for 3 years.

Well these are the kinds of things you finally get around to doing when it's cold outside.

Who Built the Railroad?

At a party at my house a guest first asked what I had done recently.  I replied that I had built two buildings in the back yard, and remodeled two bedrooms and the hallway.  You must be remarkably talented she said.  I smiled, feeling somewhat proud of my accomplishments.  She continued, can I hire you to remodel my bedrooms?  Well of course I hired others to do the work, I replied.  Oh, she said in mock surprise.  Well what did you actually do this year?  Where do you work?

I was taken aback by this, all the more because I myself have wondered a lot about these sorts of questions.  It seems to me that quite a lot people take credit for the work of others.  Especially owners and managers pride themselves on doing things actually done in largest part by anonymous workers.

But it also seemed pretty cruel in this case.  I was not merely the officer signing the check drawn on a corporate account from government funds, like a caricature 19th century railroad baron.  I might have put little (but not none!) sweat into these projects, but a lot of blood and tears, going far beyond what one might call "my money," which itself was no insignificant contribution (and earned largely by "me" if I say so myself).  Arguing for my pride, I'd point out the following things I did.

1) I had the ideas of what to do, which started only as vague concepts but ultimately were worked out in great detail (e.g., the acoustically chosen exact dimensions for Lyndhurst).  I was the visionary and the architect and designer of these projects.  As those reading this blog have seen (and even they haven't seen everything) I did a lot of design in far greater detail than most homeowners (though I would give credit to other remodeling homeowners who generally are responsible for the vision and many if not most of the details of their projects also).

2) I researched materials and methods.  Mostly online.  These formed the basis of what I asked to get estimates for, or later supplied to contractors.  In every case, I went way beyond the average in looking for the best materials and methods, such as the methods for building soundproof walls, or using acoustic sealant.  In many cases I provided contractors both with the materials and detailed instructions for using them.

3) I chose the contractors.  This is no mean feat.  I read over information in Angies list and also solicited and received recommendations by friends.  For some projects, I got multiple estimates and thought hard about which contractor would be best.  (Cheapest is not something I aim for.)  For most contracted projects I got estimates in advance and thought about them.

4) I scheduled and coordinated the work.  Much work had to be done during hours I would otherwise have been sleeping, getting ready for work, or working.  So I had to shift my sleeping hours, arrange to take days off work (and fortunately I earn 4 weeks of vacation a year), and negotiate scheduling with the various contractors.

5) I directed and supervised the work.  Now my style of supervision is mostly hands off, on the principle that people do their best work when undisturbed.  But I did insist, at times, on things being reworked, or done my way from the beginning.  Other times, I had things re-done by others.

6) I prepared for the work.  This is actually pretty big, as often I cleaned up the area beforehand, or removed existing wiring, and the like.  It's even bigger if you include things like mowing the lawn beforehand (which I did specifically on many occasions in expectation of contract work, though I would have had to do so shortly after anyway).

7) I did some work myself, including some re-work.  One of the better examples of this is the outlet and ceiling fan box sealing I did, inside Lyndhurst and inside my house.  I also installed the door handles and deadbolt for Lyndhurst.

8) I did considerable cleanup afterwards.  Some contractors were especially messy, even fouling my recyclable bin.

9) I made the payments.  I paid for everything, of course, from my own cash and/or credit, which I earned through other work.  I also juggled my accounts to make large payments possible when needed.

10) I documented my ideas and accomplishments on this blog, though most was not well documented.  What you've seen here is only a fraction of the body and hopefully some of the spirit.

11) I initiated these projects.  I desired them, I called people, and I said yes.  I was the responsible for these projects happening AT ALL.  I was the free will, free spirit, etc.  These projects would not have happened without me, just me, whereas most paid work would have been done even without a particular worker, though perhaps not as well, or in the same way, and similarly, these projects would have probably happened even without the same particular contractors, so they don't have much responsibility for their mere existence vs none at all, that all falls on me.  OTOH, my spirit, whatever it is that initiated these projects and said yes, is in turn influenced by the spirits of many others, including those of people whose homes I have visited over the years, online sources, etc.  And all this was made possible by contributions of all others, to things including systems of money and construction, as well as the particular ones used, who in turn were even shaped by their competitors and enemies, etc.  So ultimately everyone influences everything, but in vastly varying ways and degrees.

A successful year for me

I know that 2013 has been a troubling year for many, and I've had troubles too.  But in the end, for me anyway, things have worked out well.  Here's a list of accomplishments.

Home Work:

1.  Queens room cleared out of junk and remodeled, relocated closet with maple shelf, new flooring, trim, and paint,  new window and curtains, TV on wall, ceiling light and fan with wall switch and remote, new phone jack, 5 home network connections, soundproof wall and door, new outlets.

2.  Hallway remodeled with new flooring, new paint, new repaired and rounded corners, other side of soundproof wall, fixed bathroom door, removal of home network wiring.

3.  King's room remodeled, new flooring, trim, paint, and acoustical sealing, cracks filled, new soundproof door, new ceiling light and fan, new closet shelf, removed old through-wall wiring, new 6 connection home network panel, new giant media rack, old rack moved from doorway to south wall, new phone jack, new night stand.  Fan in king's bath fixed.

4.  New adjustable bed and all natural latex mattress.

5.  Maid cleaning service started and Scooba robotic room cleaner used.

6.  Pomegranate tree fixed.  Yard kept nice most all year (twice monthly mowing, irrigation management, etc).  Responded successfully to city ordinance warning wrt lawn just after first cataract surgery.

7.  Whole house A/V/Internet networking with 5 or 6 connections in every room, replacing ad hoc wiring.

8.  4x4 matrix switch for digital video; each room can have different or same source from video hub

9.  Dish service repaired, satellite box replaced with newer version having better video quality, OTA module obtained and installed to continue local sub channel access.

10.  Paid for neighbor to get new garage door, replacing his very ugly broken door.

11.  Fixed leaky exterior faucet on vacant home, helped get city to repair broken water line up the street.

12.  Established 24/7 climate control in Lyndhurst.

13.  New patio lights with LED bulbs and Insteon keypad switch.  New lights attract far fewer insects than old fluorescent bulbs.

14.  Sealed attic access door in garage and added continuous ventilation fan in garage for better home air quality.

15.  Added many new stepping stones outside.

16.  Repaired hall bath toilet, slow sink, bathtub leak, bathtub valve, new shower wand, new bath chair.  Also bathtubs much cleaner.

17.  Put Aragon hifi amplifier on Mapleshade brass feet for cooler operation and more foot room.  Adjusted living room stereo for better sound and reduced household resonances.

18.  Shipped sister's inherited silverware to sister (finally!).

19.  Fixed Sony video recorder, replacing harddrive and repairing dvd drive.

20.  Continued car maintenance, and replaced spark plugs.

PERSONAL

1.  Had cataract surgery on both eyes, with post-ops except one more post-op next week. (This took a lot more organizing and work on my part than you might imagine.)  Prior to cataract surgery, got new temporary glasses to ensure safe driving.  Had glasses modified after first eye surgery.

2.  Got blood test and got renewal of statin prescription.  Weight had been below average until mid December.

3.  Got new ceramic crown.

4.  Generally kept up good heath, adequate sleep and diet, quasi daily exercise, etc.

SOCIAL

1.  Visited college for 31st college reunion, many interesting encounters and activities.  Visited botanical gardens.

2.  Visited sister and friends in San Diego.  Visited Linda in hospital.  Played music with Howard.  Argued with George until 3am and he quit.  Attended audio society meeting in La Jolla.

3.  Attended Mensa AG in Ft Worth, including art tour.  Met interesting lady and other people.  Attended a dozen debates and won two debate awards.  Great dancing, including two dances with incredible black lady.  Had excellent food at nearby restaurants.  Went to fireworks.  Toured 6th Floor Museum in Dallas and The Grassy Knoll.

4.  (This is actually #1.)  Continued excellent relationship with my lady friend.  There were some rough patches toward the beginning and middle of the year mainly due to her difficult employment situation, but the year has ended on a positive wave that has been continuing for several months.  Much forward movement and progress in our relationship.  She cooked for and attended last two parties.

5.  Continued excellent relationships with other friends, monthly discussion parties, etc.  Three microbrew parties.  First ever Kwanzaanalia party.  Calls from and to Linda and sister.

6.  Joined River City Audio Society and attended 3 meetings including Christmas Party.  Bought speaker from member.

7.  Attended xcssa meeting at Hackerspace and demonstrated Kurzweil VAST.  Following week produced a new experimental music CD.

8.  Many memberships, subscriptions, and donations continued.  Attended meetings of Sierra Club and IEEE.  Attended Thanksgiving Dinner for Hill Country Freethinkers.  Attended meeting of FACT with Tom Flynn.  Visited McNay art museum.  Attended Cactus Pear and Camerata SA concerts.  Attended nearly full season of San Antonio Symphony concerts, mostly with lady friend (when she could make it, sometimes requiring difficult coordination).

9.  Started watching and praising Al Jazeera TV.


WORK

1.  Continuing full time employment and successful career in scientific computer programming.

2.  Met new requirements for genetic imaging research all year long with new program features and fixes as required.  Met new requirements for other genetic research.

3.  Fixed EVD2 genetic maximization method.  New official annual release in October.

ONLINE

1.  Continuing all my blogs, and keeping up with Krugman, Dean, DeLong, and Crooked Timber, among others.

2.  Discussed power amplifier design, speaker layout, and other topics with Tim.  Almost bought Adcom amp from Austin on his advice.  Learned about different kinds of turntables.

3.  Signed many online petitions and posted things to Facebook.

4.  Learned about conspiracies in rock music scene, and related to Tate murders.  Acquired Beverly Hillbillies episodes with Sharon Tate, Playboy 60's collection, and Playboy After Dark videos.